I am havinig my stove installed this week, and i was just calling a few guys for wood. One guy said that he has wood that has been sitting in log length for 2 years. He just split it this year. He claims he has sold 25+ cord and he is burning it and it burns real well. Is this ok? It seems that most people like to split the wood first and then let it season. He is selling it for 190/cord and it is a mix of oak, maple, cherry, and ash with some birch. What do you think?
Seasoning in log length
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Don't know your local market, but the price seems decent for a full cord, very good for a delivered full cord. However, he likely is bucking, splitting and throwing it in the truck to deliver to you. Will be pretty good for next year, not so good for this year.
+1. Alot of 'dealers' tell you the wood has "been down two years" - meaning its been sitting in log length for the entire time, cut and split the day b/f delivered to you. Most of it will be ready NEXT year- except the oak, which will be great wood in '12-'13. You will not have a good time trying to burn that stuff this season.
Wood in log length seasons so slooooowy that it'll often rot before you can burn it. Seasoning pretty much starts once it's split & stacked.
"Is this okay?" I suppose it depends WHEN this year he split it & whether it was stacked after splitting or just thrown in a giant heap. Taking a look at his yard would give some indication of this, but I'd put odds at like 40 to 1 that it was split either since his custmers started calling for wood this fall & was thrown in a heap, or split just before delivery.
It also depends whether you have an EPA stove, as they demand drier wood.
Either way, if you're stuck & NEED wood to burn this year you could probably burn the Ash without too much trouble and possibly mix in some cherry. It wouldn't be ideal & you'd want to check & clean the chimney often.
IF by some miracle he split it in early spring and stacked it properly, then the Ash, Cherry & Birch should be fairly good and the Maple (assuming it's Hard Maple) maybe okay. The Oak would still need at least another year.
The way most sellers operate they've never sold properly seasoned wood and their customers don't know 'cause they've never burned any.
"Is this okay?" I suppose it depends WHEN this year he split it & whether it was stacked after splitting or just thrown in a giant heap. Taking a look at his yard would give some indication of this, but I'd put odds at like 40 to 1 that it was split either since his custmers started calling for wood this fall & was thrown in a heap, or split just before delivery.
It also depends whether you have an EPA stove, as they demand drier wood.
Either way, if you're stuck & NEED wood to burn this year you could probably burn the Ash without too much trouble and possibly mix in some cherry. It wouldn't be ideal & you'd want to check & clean the chimney often.
IF by some miracle he split it in early spring and stacked it properly, then the Ash, Cherry & Birch should be fairly good and the Maple (assuming it's Hard Maple) maybe okay. The Oak would still need at least another year.
The way most sellers operate they've never sold properly seasoned wood and their customers don't know 'cause they've never burned any.
chris2879 said:
Welcome to the forum Chris.
It really is a sad state of affairs but if you are buying wood, what you found is very typical. Your first year or two of wood burning can be very difficult because you won't have good fuel. Poor fuel in a car = poor performance. Same thing happens with a wood stove.
If you do burn this wood this year, I'd be burning the ash, cherry and birch but certainly not the oak. Stack that by itself in a single row where it will get lots of wind. Sun is also good but wind is the most important for drying wood.
Be sure to check and clean that chimney often until you are able to have good dry wood.
Now you know the biggest key to wood burning (dry wood), you also know it is a good idea to buy the wood you will burn next year...now! Again, stack in single rows so the wind hits the sides of the piles. If you cover the wood, cover the top of the stacks only; never the sides. If you have a wood shed, do not stack the wood in there yet. Let it dry outdoors first because you won't get the air circulation inside a wood shed.
Good luck.
Backwoods Savage said:
I'll happily second that.....
Best time to get wood now, for next year and the year after.
Actually, if anybody came up to me in the street and said they were thinking about getting a woodburner, I would say get a big pile of wood in first, and then you can happily take your time choosing your stove.
Needless to say, nobody has ever come up to me in the street and asked................
And another warm welcome from here
"Seasoning in log length"
Seems to be an oxymoron. Or something.
Kinda like "drying in water", or "I jumped into a pile of snow, naked, to warm up".
Care for some snake oil?
Seems to be an oxymoron. Or something.
Kinda like "drying in water", or "I jumped into a pile of snow, naked, to warm up".
Care for some snake oil?
There are firewood guys around here selling "seasoned" wood. They have firewood processors and buy their wood "long" from local loggers and pile it up and sell the oldest first as needed. Like someone here said, it goes from the log pile, through the processor and into the delivery truck. I always wondered how dry it really could get "seasoned" that way, but I never have bought any. From what I've heard, at best, it varies a lot. Most do not try and buy in the Fall for that heating season.
Since I got my Garn and skidder I've fooled around with that a little. The first Winter I pulled out a bunch of whole-tree mixed Red Oak and Red Maple and sawed it 24" with chainsaw and left it for 10 months. When I split it and put it in the shed the maple was really nice, the oak still quite green. Some of these were 2 ft in dia. So I split the oak really fine and burned the maple first and it was really good wood.
This Fall I "processed" (wood splitter and chainsaw) a pile of whole-tree Red Maple that I had pulled out in March of 09. So this was "seasoned" log length for 20 months or so. This stuff was ready to burn, dry as a bone, as long as it was up off the ground. Anything that was in contact with the ground was hardly worth the effort it was so punky.
Also this year I cut and split some red oak and maples that I cut down, limbed and left where they fell, back in June. The maple was surprisingly dry and the oak was green, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Again, I split it all quite fine, especially the oak, put it in the shed where it won't be burned until Feb or March. I think it will be fine.
I do have what might be called a semi-heated woodshed because my garn and wood are in the same building. But, anyways, from what I've seen I think if you get it in under cover and burn the Oak last, that wood will be just fine.
Since I got my Garn and skidder I've fooled around with that a little. The first Winter I pulled out a bunch of whole-tree mixed Red Oak and Red Maple and sawed it 24" with chainsaw and left it for 10 months. When I split it and put it in the shed the maple was really nice, the oak still quite green. Some of these were 2 ft in dia. So I split the oak really fine and burned the maple first and it was really good wood.
This Fall I "processed" (wood splitter and chainsaw) a pile of whole-tree Red Maple that I had pulled out in March of 09. So this was "seasoned" log length for 20 months or so. This stuff was ready to burn, dry as a bone, as long as it was up off the ground. Anything that was in contact with the ground was hardly worth the effort it was so punky.
Also this year I cut and split some red oak and maples that I cut down, limbed and left where they fell, back in June. The maple was surprisingly dry and the oak was green, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Again, I split it all quite fine, especially the oak, put it in the shed where it won't be burned until Feb or March. I think it will be fine.
I do have what might be called a semi-heated woodshed because my garn and wood are in the same building. But, anyways, from what I've seen I think if you get it in under cover and burn the Oak last, that wood will be just fine.
Rick, red maple indeed will season in log length! It is actually one of the very few.
Many winters I will drop the red maples through the winter for the deer to feed on. I just drop the tree and leave it alone. Leave them 2-3 years and the wood is ready to burn. Wouldn't it be nice if all wood were like this?
btw, I'll be soon dropping the trees for the deer because this year they did not have many acorns to chew on to get ready for the winter.
Many winters I will drop the red maples through the winter for the deer to feed on. I just drop the tree and leave it alone. Leave them 2-3 years and the wood is ready to burn. Wouldn't it be nice if all wood were like this?
btw, I'll be soon dropping the trees for the deer because this year they did not have many acorns to chew on to get ready for the winter.
Dennis- you're right. I see deer feeding on my maple tops most years when I cut any. We had lots of acorns here this year and a mild winter last year. So hopefully the deer herd can rebound. It hasn't been great since the long deep snow winters of 07-08. I hope to do some cutting in a bigger way, if my back holds out, this winter. I have a large woodlot and would like to sell some firewood.
Where in western Ma are you? I may have bought from the same guy.
Generally speaking, you don't season in rounds or logs very well...the moisture insode the log doesn't leave very effectively throught he outer layers and definintely not through the bark...you have to expose heartwood to the air to get the moisture out.
That said, you gotta do what you gotta do. Get the wood home and stack it up neatly and then put a fan on it for a few days if you're stacking it inside. The winds will wick away an awful lot of moisture.
Keep an eye on your chimney and clena it if you see it getting plugged up or if you notice a significnat sustained loss of draft up the chimney.
Generally speaking, you don't season in rounds or logs very well...the moisture insode the log doesn't leave very effectively throught he outer layers and definintely not through the bark...you have to expose heartwood to the air to get the moisture out.
That said, you gotta do what you gotta do. Get the wood home and stack it up neatly and then put a fan on it for a few days if you're stacking it inside. The winds will wick away an awful lot of moisture.
Keep an eye on your chimney and clena it if you see it getting plugged up or if you notice a significnat sustained loss of draft up the chimney.
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